Gold Coast 2018: Fourth medal for James Guy as netballers secure semi-final spot at Commonwealth Games
University of Bath-based swimmer James Guy won his fourth medal of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games on Monday as he took silver in the 100m butterfly.
The British Swimming National Centre Bath swimmer finished runner-up to South Africa’s Chad Le Clos, who completed a clean sweep of butterfly golds at the meeting.
Team Bath Netball’s Eboni Beckford-Chambers and Kadeen Corbin are guaranteed a shot at a medal later this week after helping England secure a semi-final place with an 85-31 victory over Wales.
University of Bath-based sportspeople were also in athletics and shooting action on Monday – here is a round-up of how they fared. Click here for a full schedule, results and news.
Swimming
James Guy’s busy but rewarding week in the pool continued as he added 100m butterfly silver to his medal collection.
Guy, coached by Jol Finck at the British Swimming National Centre Bath, was just four-hundredths of a second behind defending champion Chad Le Clos at the halfway stage but a big turn gave the South African a decisive edge.
Showing the fight and determination that he is renowned for, Guy held off the charge of Australia’s Grant Irvine to finish second in 51.31 and claim his third silver medal of the week. He also won bronze in the 400m freestyle.
Training partner Calum Jarvis, a University of Bath Sports Performance graduate, was seventh for Wales in 53.36.
Chloe Tutton, also representing Wales, produced a strong finish to her 100m breaststroke final but had to settle for fifth place in 1:07.87. She had won 200m breaststroke bronze over the weekend.
Jazz Carlin was unable to defend her 800m freestyle title as she finished sixth in 32:58.14. Carlin, coached by Dave McNulty, will be back in action for Wales on Tuesday when she contests the 400m freestyle.
MJ Church Ambassador Anna Hopkin, coached by Mark Skimming in the University’s student-swimming squad, was the only Home Nations swimmer to qualify for a world-class 100m freestyle final and she sat fifth at the turn before touching the wall in eighth in 55.03.
It was another fine performance by the Sport & Exercise Science student, supported by a Thompson Education Trust scholarship, who has also reached the 50m freestyle final and helped England win bronze in the 4x100m freestyle relay this week.
Integrated Mechanical & Electrical Engineering student Miles Munro, also coached by Skimming and representing Guernsey, missed out on a place in the 50m freestyle semi-finals by just one-hundredth of a second after clocking 22.94 in his heat.
Find out more about the University’s student-swimming programme in this video…
Netball
Team Bath’s Eboni Beckford-Chambers and Kadeen Corbin helped England guarantee their place in the Commonwealth Games semi-finals with a comprehensive 85-31 victory over Wales in Pool B.
The win was never in doubt as the Roses stormed into a 46-10 lead at half-time. Beckford-Chambers came on at goal defence for the second half, while Corbin converted 12 of her 14 attempts as she played goal shooter for the last quarter.
Fellow Blue & Gold star Chelsea Lewis played the opening quarter for Wales before returning for a much-improved second half, scoring with 22 of her 28 shots during the game.
Unbeaten England face New Zealand – who were stunned by Malawi on Sunday – in their final group game on Wednesday (12.02am BST) knowing victory would guarantee them top spot and avoid a semi-final meeting with hosts and favourites Australia.
Wales have two more chances to get a win on the board at the Games, against Uganda on Tuesday (11.32am BST) and Malawi on Wednesday (10.02am BST).
Athletics
University of Bath sporting scholars Jenny Nesbitt and Cameron Chalmers both gained invaluable experience of competing on the international multi-sport stage as they lined up for Wales and Guernsey respectively in the Carrara Stadium.
Nesbitt, who studies Sports & Social Science and is supported by a Trendell Sports Scholarship, ran a new personal best of 32:58.14 as she finished 17th in the women’s 10,000m on her Commonwealth Games debut.
Sports Performance student Cameron Chalmers, supported by a Thompson Education Trust scholarship and coached by James Hillier at the Sports Training Village, had the tricky inside lane in his 400m semi-final but finished strongly to take fifth place in 46.34.
Click here to find out more about the scholarship programme at the University of Bath.
The morning session saw Emily Diamond secure her place in the women’s 400m semi-finals by placing third in her heat in 52.26.
However, there was disappointment for Sports Performance graduate and MJ Church Ambassador David King, who clipped the first hurdle of his 110m hurdles semi-final and was unable to recover as he finished seventh. Andrew Pozzi, who trained at the University of Bath from 2009 to 2016, was the fastest qualifier for Tuesday’s final.
There was frustration for Team Bath AC’s Tom Gale too as missed out on a place in the high jump final. After struggling at 2.10m and 2.15m, Gale – appearing at his first major championships – cleared 2.18m at his first attempt but fell short at 2.21m. That put him 14th overall, one place outside the qualification places.
Shooting
University of Bath graduate Kristian Callaghan narrowly missed out on a place in the 10m air pistol final after placing tenth in the qualifying round with a score of 562-11x.
Callaghan, who studied Integrated Mechanical & Electrical Engineering and still trains at the University thanks to a Team Bath Service Support Grant, is next in action in the 50m pistol on Wednesday.
